China and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) keep telling the whole world that Taiwan has always belonged to China. The Chinese government never gets tired of reiterating that Taiwan, like Tibet, is an ‘inalienable/inseparable part of the motherland’. Even though most people would agree that self-determination is the highest principle and that ‘historical links’ cannot justify China’s claim over someone else’s country, it is still important to look into historical documents from the ancient and the contemporary China to see if the evidence supports or contradicts China’s claim. I will start with some historical records, following the chronological order. The translation of the title of those historical documents is tentative as I cannot be certain whether official translation has been established for them.

Nice try, anonymous 6.46, but you're either lying or you haven't read the post.

The quotes are from diverse sources and show Manchu emperors and officials stating explicitly, over and over, something that was clearly self evident at the time: that Taiwan was not historically part of "Zhong-guo".

Precisely the point that Claudia Jean was making.

What's more, reading between the lines it appears those emperors and officials didn't actually regard Taiwan as part of "Zhong-guo" in their own day, only as a territory that had been affixed to the Great Manchu Empire.

Remember, anonymous 6.46: we wouldn't be peering back into the past like this in the first place if Nationalists and Communists didn't insist on dragooning history into the argument to support their predatory, immoral, totally manufactured co-claim over the territory and people of modern Taiwan.

Michael, is this actually a picture of you from your stint in Africa back in the day? And if so, doesn't this prove, just like Dinesh D'Souza and Newt Gingrich have proven about Obama, that you are, in fact, a "secret Kenyan anti-colonialist"???

I'm not even sure what that means, but it must be bad and somehow covertly anti-American.

Photos on this blog are hosted by Flickr. I used to enthusiastically recommend Flickr but the new site changes have grievously impaired its usefulness. My current recommendation: find another photo host. My photos at Flickr. Just click on any photo to be taken to its Flickr page to view it in larger size.